Cinema Australia Podcast #72 | Samantha Marlowe & Frances Elliott

Cinema Australia Original Content:

Samantha Marlowe and Frances Elliott.

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I love a feature film debut. There’s nothing quite like watching a film directed by first-time feature filmmakers giving it their all to make a name for themselves and forge a screen career.

In this episode I’m joined by two such guests, Samantha Marlowe and Frances Elliot, who have co-written and directed a moving and insightful documentary called Girl Like You.

These two are certainly filmmakers to keep an eye on, and from what they tell me in this interview, they’re going to be making movies together for a long time going forward.

Elloise Walsh and Lauren Black.

What it’s about

Over six years, a couple battles to stay together as one of them transitions genders; confronting the effects of new body parts, changing gender roles as well as navigating their own evolving sexual identities.

When Lauren first saw Lewis smashing out the drums on stage, with smudged eyeliner, knotted hair and ripped jeans, she fell in love. Lewis had been open about identifying as transgender, but was still physically presenting as male and fairly certain he’d stay that way. Six months into their relationship, Lewis tells Lauren that he wants to medically transition genders, change pronouns from He to She, and become Elle.

Over six years, we watch a couple desperate to stay together, as they navigate the effects of new body parts, changing gender roles as well as battling their own evolving sexual identities. Girl Like You uses the dramatic reality of changing genders while in a relationship to explore the larger thematic questions of the fluidity of gender and sexual identity, and the self sacrifice required to nurture a lover through life.

Elloise Walsh and Lauren Black.

About the cast

Elloise Walsh is a contemplative thinker with a dark sense of humour. She is highly articulate, very intelligent, but struggles with inward and obsessive thinking when it comes to her gender dysphoria. She started playing the drums in high school before coming out as transgender, to show the world ‘how much of a man she could be,’ and now uses it as a way to channel her frustrations. She now plays alongside two of her best mates from high school in the popular Perth band “The Love Junkies,” known for their rugged brand of grunge rock.
*Please note, Elle goes by her now dead name “Lewis” in the first act of the documentary, before transitioning on screen to Elloise, or Elle for short.

Elloise Walsh.

Lauren Black is a fiercely stylish and ultra sassy vegan who builds race cars for her family’s business, while working in the pits on race days. In serious situations, you can always rely on Lauren to crack an inappropriate joke to ease the tension. She is hard working, self assured, witty, and extremely protective of the ones she loves, however she is a self proclaimed ‘fixer’ – who carries the weight of fixing and carrying other peoples problems on her shoulders, which at times erodes her own emotional wellbeing.

Lauren Black.

Mitch McDonald is the co-founder and lead singer of ‘The Love Junkies,’ and Elle’s best mate since they were thirteen. They bonded over being misfits and music nerds from broken families, a friendship that would go on to last a decade. Mitch is a musical genius, driven and talented, but frustrated that the band is still on the edge of success, and even more frustrated when the band starts receiving attention for Elle’s gender, rather than the music.

Mitch McDonald.

Peta Walsh is Elle’s mother, who lives in the conservative country town of Roleystone, which is fraught with religious fanatics and gossip. Peta loves and accepts Elle for who she is, but she is consistently grieving the loss of the son she gave birth to, and the future that she thought that boy would have.

Peta Walsh.

A bit more from the filmmakers…

Girl Like You started as an idea for a short documentary by two twenty-three year old filmmakers, with nothing more than a question to one of their friends: what was it like to be born in the wrong body? This one question snowballed into a documentary shot over six years, that documents a gender transition from start to finish, and explores the fluidity of gender and sexuality through the prism of one couples relationship.

When we first began shooting in 2015, the focus of our narrative revolved solely around Elle’s gender transition. But over time, we started realising what a profoundly important role her girlfriend Lauren was playing in the story. Lauren provided emotional support at times of doubt, financial assistance to supply Elle with hormones, and consistently put her own fears about the transition to one side in order to help her partner. We started gravitating towards the relationship as our central narrative, and as Elle ping-ponged through new stages of the transition, we observed and documented what ripple effect these new phases had on her partner.

Similarly, the feedback from our peers echoed the same sentiments, and all of the questions that started filtering back were about Lauren. How did she feel about her partner transitioning? How did she label her sexuality? Would the relationship survive? We discovered that audiences were investing in the couples journey, and even rooting for them to make it to the other side. This proved to be what set Girl Like You apart from the crowd, as we explore relatively uncharted waters in a bid to understand what its like to be in love with someone as they changed genders.

We are incredibly passionate about telling this kind of love story, but for us it comes from a personal place. We are the directors’, but also best friends with our subjects. Elle and Samantha grew up on the same street in a small suburb in the Perth hills, and Lauren has been one of our best friends since we were teenagers. The battle between our cameras and our friendships hasn’t always been easy to navigate, but ultimately Elle and Lauren have always trusted us to tell their story. From that trust, we have been granted unflinching access and honesty, which translates to authenticity on screen.

For us as directors and friends, it is a great honour to project this love story into the social consciousness of our world; normalising transgender relationships on screen, dissolving misconceptions about gender and sexuality, and exploring the otherwise untouched subjects of love in a transgender world.

Girl Like You will be available to watch in ABC iView from Tuesday, 9 November.